“I don’t really know what happened at the beginning,” Kennedy’s Paige Franck said. “(Jefferson was) all pumped up. But we snapped out of it and got into place.”

Kennedy (1-0) lost three Division-I players to graduation after reaching the state tournament last year. The Cougars won’t be nearly as big this fall, but, as Franck said, “I think we’ll have the back row to make up for it. We might play a quicker tempo.”

The Cougars weren’t quick out of the blocks Tuesday. Jefferson (0-1) scored the first seven points, won the first set, and was right on Kennedy’s heels in Game 2 at 19-17.

Kennedy scored the last six points, though, and played from ahead throughout the final two sets.

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